Fresh Eyes

By Joe Hungler on January 29th, 2008

The reasoning for a project or policy should never be “That’s how we’ve always done it.” Michael Wade at Execupundit has a post titled This Old Bureaucracy that advocates out of the box thinking. One of the examples he uses is the George Foreman Grill. George needed to feed all his kids and by cooking both sides of a hamburger at one time, he got the food to the table faster. Don’t be afraid to ask outsiders, volunteers and new staff to offer feedback. They will see things very differently. It will also offer you a chance to explain why certain policies are in place and help them understand your mission. This reminds me of great advice offered to my boss from one of our board members when he took over our Club (I’m paraphrasing). “Write down everything you want to change. In six months, you won’t see the dirt anymore. It will become part of the background noise.” How do you encourage and recognize ”fresh eyes” in your organization?